Series by Series - My Favourite Games, '90s Edition

 "My favourite game?" It's a question that could have several different responses. Resident Evil. Kerplunk. That song by The Cardigans where the video had her driving. But there was always games that would pop up on The Crystal Maze where young me, and old me, would pay a little more attention. Games that I would enjoy watching being played a little more than others. Maybe I found them more creative or just more fun. So, here's some games I just felt outranked the rest of each series offerings.

Series One (1990) - Timebomb

The first series, none of the games were all that complex. It was a new production so everything felt a little bit simplistic. Whether it was simply dropping a ball bearing in a hole with utmost precision, or having to identify objects by touch alone, the games weren't yet the most imaginative. So my choice for series one is the game that went a bit further in setting a scene. Timebomb saw the contestant have to connect coloured wires to pictures of objects to create a link. For example, a yellow wire to a picture of some pages. Yellow Pages. But rather than just have a timer counting down the time allotted for the game as with all games, there was also a nuclear bomb in the room counting down too. Fail to complete the game and... the lights got turned up. Last 30 seconds the bomb started smoking, the tension built, there was a bit of imagination here, a milligram of plot, and I still like seeing it even though I know no-one ever beat the game. 

Series Two (1991) - Laser Duel

I'll just throw it out there now, I've no idea of the official names written on the plans for each game so I'm going with a mix of what's down on crystalmaze.marcgerrish.com and just whatever I want to call them.

There's something quintessentially '90s about Laser Quest. The theme of many a birthday party of someone from school who invited everyone regardless of how often they talked to everyone or not. Everything about this game just works for me, the laser quest idea, the lighting, the extra little physical element with the bolts behind the bloke in (what would now be called) a wish.com robot costume. This game was a real contrast to those seen the year previous. More thought, imagination and creativity was on show. Lighting, sound effects, design all coming together to make a 2 minute game that stuck in the mind.

Series Three (1992) - Portcullis Escape

Like with Laser Quest, this showed a new way of looking at a game. Instead of making the crystal the aim, this game changed that end goal to simply walking out the door and avoiding a lock-in. The contestant walks in, and is simply given the crystal. Then the game kicks in and they have to build a small arrangement of gears in order to be allowed to leave the cell. There's no middle ground here, you either gain a crystal or the team loses a member to a lock in.

Series Four (1993) - Propshaft Walk

This was a tricky one. There's loads of great games in this series but, while looking over them, none of them really stood out to me, except this one. It's not the most pacey of games, but there's always the sense that, if someone falls, someone's getting hurt. They'd never get to do this nowadays simply because of modern health and safety rules, but the visual of someone walking at a bit of height with rotating metal under them is still something that looks rather interesting on screen.

Series Five (1994) - Spacewalk

Again, another great crop of games that I struggled to pick one from, but this stood out for one reason: it's something different. No floor, and I can safely assume it takes place in a cell just off the regular set, much as is done in the revived version when there's planets that need stepping on. This also looks to be an actual physical test, something to really make the body work, and it's good to see a real challenge.

Series Six (1995) - Unsafe Safe

Another gift of a crystal followed by a challenge of escaping. The puzzle itself follows the familiar style of the Japanese block sliding game Rush Hour, having to move blocks past each other to complete the puzzle. In this case the blocks holding a door shut and having to move them to release the door and let them out. There's also a nice little feeling of schadenfreude as the time ticks down, you know they aren't getting out and it only just occurs to the team there's about to be a lock in.

Its been a little while since I finished getting anything written, I've been moving house and it hasn't been fun but I'm glad to be back at it.

Have you got any favourites that come to mind? Let me know in a comment